Parking garage on its way?

Church, city may team up for 250-car, 3-story garage

The 700 members of Grace United Methodist, 8 Carrera St., are mulling a partnership with the city to build a 250-space parking garage across from the church.

The idea is unusual because it could be the first-ever parking garage built in the city and the first-ever financial partnership with a church for a specific public interest.

Mayor Len Weeks presented a conceptual drawing to about 50 church members Tuesday night, saying he was ''invited in love and cooperation'' to explain one possible way to increase church parking.

Grace Methodist's parking lot -- across Carrera Street from the church and across Cordova Street from Scarlett O'Hara's -- holds 80 to 100 cars, but attendance at services often reaches 250 on Sunday.

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Parishioners of Grace United Methodist have asked Mayor Len Weeksfor help in solving a parking crunch.

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The church's minister, Doug Clewis, now holds two services to spread out the crowd.

Weeks said he read that inner-city churches around the country are dying for lack of parking and added that parishioners from Grace Methodist kept asking him about solving their parking problem.

''This isn't my idea,'' he said. ''This was identified by a consultant before I was on the commission. But the transit greenway plan is dead in the water, and we don't have the money for a shuttle system.''

The city plans a system of three parking garages to reduce the number of cars downtown: one at the Visitors Information Center, one at San Sebastian Harbor and one at the Lightner Museum.

A fourth may be possible on Anastasia Island, at the amphitheater.

He said if the church decides to go ahead with the plan, the city will include it in its parking system.

Weeks said a few obstacles exist:

- The lot is not entirely owned by Grace United. Flagler College owns an alley through it and a small building on it. The city owns a piece. The college would have to give its permission.

- Church members will have no nearby place to park during the 12- to 18- month period while the garage is constructed. Some system of satellite parking with a shuttle will have to be devised.

- Building costs will be twice as high as a plain parking garage because of its aesthetic design and the amenities suggested by the architect for the bottom floor, such as storefronts off Cordova Street and meeting rooms off Carrera Street.

- The three-story garage will be 35-feet high, as tall as the church, but not as tall as the steeple. The garage's size will block part of the view of the beautifully restored church.

According to Weeks, the city would create a parking authority to clean and run the garage, as well as provide safety and security. It would also collect all parking fees.

The church would receive its portion of the proceeds without having to provide a security officer or attendants.

''To me, it makes sense to have another body manage the parking lot rather than the church,'' he said. ''(But) I'm not pushing this on anybody. This has never come before the commission, because there's never been a reason to.''

Architect Jerry Dixon, who drew the conceptual rendering three years ago, said there are always tradeoffs in projects like this where something is gained and something lost.

''Because of the nature of it (being next to the Flagler property), it will have to be Flagler-era,'' he said. ''Traffic will enter the garage and leave it from Cordova Street, keeping it off residential Carrera Street. There will a walking entrance across from the church, and one across from Hypolita Street.''

There will be three shops along Cordova, meeting rooms, public restrooms and a closed-circuit television system for security.

Flooding along Cordova Street would be taken care of. And, cars would be parked on all three levels and the roof, he said.

''This will take cars off the street,'' he said. ''You can't take cars off the street if we don't have a place to put them. We don't want it to look like a parking structure, so this is just a conceptual portrait to start a dialogue.''

Parking in the garage would be free on Sunday for parishioners and on days with scheduled weddings and funerals.

City Manager Bill Harriss said the church can structure its parking however it wanted, but ''the more giveaway stuff you have, the less (profit) there is for the church.''

The church now nets about $5,000 a month from parking lot revenues, which it uses for various programs.

Harriss said the project will not be easy to complete.

''The city can only build one parking garage at a time. I can't afford more, and I don't have the people,'' Harriss said.

Church spokesman Pastor Clewis said the church members have not yet studied the plan and have had no chance yet of deciding if they wanted to participate or not.

''It's premature,'' he said. ''I don't think anybody has all the answers yet. The city has questions, and we have questions as well. It's still vague for all of us. But we're fortunate that our church does have parking. Some churches don't. We have to protect that."